British academic files torture claim against UAE officials
Matthew Hedges says he hopes to clear his name in court, claiming he was held in solitary confinement and falsely accused of spying
6 May 2021 • 6:00am
British academic Matthew Hedges has lodged a civil claim against four Emirati officials he accuses of responsibility for his imprisonment in the United Arab Emirates
Credit: Paul Grover
A British academic has filed a civil case in the UK against four United Arab Emirates officials, claiming he was tortured after being falsely accused of spying in the UAE.
Matthew Hedges was arrested in the UAE in May 2018 while conducting research for his PhD at Durham University and charged with attempting to procure sensitive information.
British academic Matthew Hedges has started legal proceedings against four Emirati officials accused of involvement in his detention and torture in the UAE.
Hedges was detained in the UAE in 2018 during a doctoral research trip to the Gulf state, when he was accused and convicted of spying for a foreign country . It is clear they have no interest in finding out who was responsible for my abuse. This total lack of redress has prolonged my trauma and made it very difficult to move on with my life. On top of that, the FCDO has not done enough to help me clear my name
A British academic who was jailed on espionage charges by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched civil proceedings in a UK court against four senior Emirati officials, according to his lawyers.
The UAE had arrested Matthew Hedges in May 2018 and handed him a life sentence more than six months later after showing a video of him purportedly confessing to being a member of Britain’s spy agency and researching which military systems the Gulf state was buying.
After being granted a presidential pardon and returning to the United Kingdom in late November 2018, Hedges accused UAE investigators of subjecting him to psychological torture and forcing him to give a false confession. UAE officials at the time had denied the allegations and described the doctoral student at Durham University as a “part-time academic, part-time businessman and full-time spy”.